Sam Harris

Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson commented yesterday that the good citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania, have invited divine retribution by voting out of office the eight Dover school board members who sought to inject the teaching of intelligent design into the Dover schools.  This medievel mentality is exactly the sort that Sam Harris described in his book as having wrought hundreds of years of suffering to humanity in the form of witch hunts and the Inquisition, to name only two.  A reaction to those abuses and crimes perpetrated by Christians in Europe led the American founding fathers to insist upon separation of church and state.  The ascendency of the religious right in the United States must be countered with, as Harris argues, reason and an insistence on evidence and proof.  My religion—methodist; and that's methodist with a small "m", as in "scientific method". 
LLPete

I wouldn’t worry too much about that old buzzard anymore. He’s
been saying the most outrageous things for decades and I think
he is even an embarassment to this adminstration. Robertson
himself will only be around for a limited time and I see encouraging
signs everywhere that the radical christian right agenda is waning
in this country. I even think our resident “fundie” who goes by the
username of, “The Champion” sees this, though he may be reluctant to admit it. Pendulums have always swung back and
forth throughought history and I think the Christian has pretty
much reached the apex of their power and influence, it’s all down
hill from here, but I fully expect some tough conflicts before they
are rendered relatively impotent. A cornered animal fights the hardest knowing that it’s doom is nigh. But in their over-confidence
they have pushed too hard and I think the American people are
becoming tired of the bullying extremes from them and are pushing
back.

I find it rather amusing that these idiots fail to learn from history
and human folly in general. Had it not been for hitler’s over-
confidence and meddling (and that of other arrogant nazis
leaders like goering) Germany may have very well defeated
Britain and then turned the full might of her formidable war
machine against Russia. If the Russia would have then fallen,
the USA and rest of the world would have been in a dire predictment indeed. Also, many serial killers only get caught after
their over-confidence and “superiority complexes” allow them to
make a fatal blunder. Truly, “evil” is often it’s own worst enemy.
These people would do well to consider following words of Gen.
George Patton:

  “For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from
  the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade.
  In the procession came trumpets and strange animals from
  conquered territories,together with carts laden with treasure
  and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal
  chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the
  conquer holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a
  warning: that all glory is fleeting”.

  The Christian right has the bush adminstration to blame for much
  of this and yet, many still consider him a hero. It’s hardly been a
  year since all the great conservative/christian right celebrations
  and talk of “mandates” filled the air. Where are they now???

  When it comes to mainstream Judeo-Christian beliefs, I am wholly atheistic. You claim to be a methodist, so I probably wouldn’t
agree with many of your views regarding many things. Nevertheless I have no problem with moderate/liberal Christians
or other religious. I am very glad to have you and all those like you
on “our” side.

[quote author=“landulf”]A cornered animal fights the hardest knowing that it’s doom is nigh.

Hence Sun Tzu’s advice in chapter 7 of The Art of War: “Leave an escape route for a surrounded army.” If they think they have no other option, they will fight twice as hard.

[quote author=“landulf”]You claim to be a methodist, so I probably wouldn’t
agree with many of your views regarding many things. Nevertheless I have no problem with moderate/liberal Christians or other religious. I am very glad to have you and all those like you on “our” side.

Sorry, but I have to laugh at this. LLPete was being facetious. Take a look at what he said again and you’ll see he’s not claiming to be a Methodist, but a “scientific methodist”. It’s a pun.

You wrote

Sorry, but I have to laugh at this. LL Pete was
being facetious. Take a look at what he said and you’ll see he’s
not claiming to be a Methodist, but a “scientificmethodist”
It’s a pun.

  Yeah, my over-tired brain realized this a few seconds after I posted my remarks. By then it was too late ofcourse.

  As far as Sun Tzu’s advice, i’m trying to envision what an
  “escape route” would look like in our “war” with religious
  fundamentalism.

  If it involves even the slightest intrusion into the rights and
  freedoms us secularists, non-christians and moderate/liberal
  christians cherish, i’d rather just try and annihilate the “army”
  first, by whatever non-violent, legal means necessary.

  I’d be willing to let them put their silly nativity scenes in the public
  square, but that’s about as much comprimise as i’d be satisfied
  with!!!

[quote author=“landulf”]Yeah, my over-tired brain realized this a few seconds after I posted my remarks. By then it was too late ofcourse.

You know you can edit your own posts, right? It just shows how many times you’ve edited and the date of the last edit. If you edit your post before any new posts are made in the same thread, it doesn’t even seem show that you edited it at all. (Sort of cheating, but I didn’t set it up that way.)

[quote author=“landulf”]As far as Sun Tzu’s advice, i’m trying to envision what an “escape route” would look like in our “war” with religious fundamentalism.

I’m not sure that I have the best answer to this question, but there is a lot of philosophical wisdom in the bible, koran and other texts central to the religions of the world. As with greek mythology, there is plenty to salvage from these works, once they are divorced from the ridiculous concept that they were authored either directly or indirectly by the creator of the universe. Perhaps a suitable “escape route” can be fashioned from that idea. It’s a place to start anyway.

I know that now and not just because you told me.
For the longest time, I used to see those “commandments”
at the bottom of this site; “You cannot”.....this and “You cannot”.....
that. Now, they’ve all changed to “You can”.  If only god could
change his mind like that

Here is the final word on this:

God could have took the stand, put his right hand on the bible, swear to tell the truth,  then explained by he created misquitoes.